Floral managers to focus on the shopping
setting and customer relationships in 2008.

We were
interested in learning about floral departments’ strategies for
growth during the upcoming year. We asked five floral managers
from across the country:

What part of
your floral business are you focusing on for growth this year,
and why?

My focus for the coming year will be to invite
our guests to stroll through our flower shop each time they
enter our store. I have learned by experience that cascading
masses of color and hue attract the eyes of our impulse
shoppers. With this in mind, creating new and different displays
entices them to shop. When our guests come to visit our Dan’s
floral shop, it is very important to me that they can always
count on finding what they need. We want our floral shop to be a
“must see” for every guest.

Janet Boren, floral manager

Dan’s Foods, Store No. 2

Salt Lake City, Utah

I am focusing on the “wow!” to bring customers
into an enjoyable shopping experience. The focus at Jungle Jim’s
will be signage and home-décor living. To start, we changed the
image of the entrance by placing a large, lighted
movie-theater-style sign with selected features to draw
customers in. We changed the name of the department to
“Shasta”—“she hasta have this; she hasta have that”—to let the
customers know something new is going on. Each category within
the store has signage to tell a story—description, size, price
and usage, which is placed in a home-décor setting.

Jeanne Wallace, floral manager and buyer

Jungle Jim’s International Market

Fairfield, Ohio

Our focus is customer loyalty—the customers who
come every week for flowers for themselves, not because it’s a
birthday, anniversary or holidays. To keep repeat customers and
build customer loyalty, it is imperative to cultivate long-term
relationships. Know their names and talk to them about their
jobs and what you can do to make their days a little less
stressful. If I can put a smile on a customer’s face when she
walks into our store after having a bad day, I can rest assured
she will be in again because she wants that same feeling. Maybe
the next time, she will want something for her mother or a
co-worker’s birthday, but she will come back.

Judy Ivers, floral specialist

Pete’s County Market

Alexandria, Minn.

For 2008, my goal is to increase deliveries and
customers’ awareness that we are a “complete floral service” and
not just a grocery store cash-and-carry business. I want our
telephone to be the number our customers call to send birthday,
anniversary, sympathy and “whatever” greetings with the
assurance that they will receive quality products at affordable
pricing. I feel that the more contact you can keep with your
customers, the better. When customers call for their special
occasions, cross-merchandising becomes so easy within the other
store departments, and everyone benefits.

Susan McDonald, floral manager and designer

The Grand Food Center, Winnetka, Ill.

We plan to continue to increase our emphasis on
education of customers in the areas of care and handling as well
as how to combine what they grow in their yards with what we
offer in our floral department. I enjoy teaching my customers
about the care of their plants and flowers. They are taking home
the little old secrets my grandmother taught me. I have
developed a lot of happy repeat customers because they do what I
suggest and are amazed at how long flowers can last with the
proper care.